I met director and screenwriter Sofia Coppola at the Café de Flores in Paris, towards the end of 2010, just before the UK release of her fourth feature film, Somewhere.
The Café where the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre would meet up with his fellow existentialists seemed a fitting place to talk about Somewhere: a film in which Stephen Dorff plays a jaded movie star jolted out of his existential boredom by the arrival of his 11-year-old daughter.
But that’s not why Coppola chose it as a meeting place. She lived next door while making her film Marie Antoinette in 2004, and although their main home is now in New York, she still keeps a home in the area with her husband, French musician Thomas Mars, and their two daughters.
Somewhere is about Los Angeles, with much of the action taking place in the louche Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont. But it’s also about the strange, stateless world of celebrity.
People often assume she grew up in this world, as the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola. But the family spent most of their time in rural California, on a farm in the Napa Valley, and Sofia didn’t spend a great deal of time in LA until she went to college there, in her twenties.
What I’ve pulled out here is lessons we can all learn from Coppola. Her curiosity about creative areas such as fashion, music and photography, and how they feed back into her films; how she tends to write, and how becoming a parent has changed that; and how being a quiet, introverted observer has enabled her to be a different kind of film-maker.
On writing
What comes first for you, the character or the place?
The character. But he was so connected to the place.
For Lost In Translation, I wanted to write about Tokyo. With this one, I was living in Paris after my daughter was born, and you avoid all the tabloids and stuff here. But every once in a while, a friend would visit and bring a trashy tabloid from home – and they look just so exaggerated after being in Paris.
So this character came in mind, and I was interested in that world, from being at a distance from it. I like LA, but it’s a strange place. It’s not like anywhere else, and the whole city revolves around showbusiness.
I always start out with one thing, and it turns into something else. When I was writing this one, it was before the Twilight series, and I thought, ‘It’s time for a vampire movie!’
The character that Stephen Dorff plays came into that, but then he started wanting his own movie. And now there’s so much vampire stuff that I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the first idea.
How and where do you write?
I write at home, on a laptop. Before having children I used to write late at night, on the dining table. Because there are no distractions, then. Even in my office, there was too much distraction.
This is the first thing I’d written since having a kid, and I wrote it in my office in our apartment here, with all my photobooks, music, and references around me.
I procrastinate a lot. I have to force myself to spend time writing. Writing is so hard – I don’t know anyone who feels it comes easy. And original screenplays are much scarier, and hard to start.
I listen to music when I’m writing, and then I’ll put together references for it. Sometimes I get ideas from photos, which I’ll put together to show the crew before filming.
Your stories don’t tend to resolve neatly.
I like to resolve them enough that the audiences aren’t totally unsatisfied, and have an idea of where it’s going. With this one I wanted it to be hopeful, that it’s the beginning of a new chapter in his life. But I don’t like to wrap it all up. I like people to use their imagination.
I love the end of Lost In Translation, when Bill Murray’s character whispers something in Scarlett Johansson’s ear – and the viewer has to decide for themselves what was said, and what it meant for them.
It’s funny, because I never thought that would be such a big deal! I just like people to think about it, on their own. I like movies that make you think about them.
And you don’t always have to tell a story in words.
Right! To me, there’s so much that’s not expressed by words, and you can tell so much by a little glance, or a gesture.
On inspiration
So what were your influences, for this film?
There’s a Bryan Ferry song that I used in the end credits, a cover of ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ that I listened to a lot when I was writing, because there’s something very sweet and romantic about it.
I also looked at a lot of Helmut Newton photographs, because he lived in the Chateau Marmont in the winter, and took photos there. The hotel has that kind of decadent side that I’ve always felt from his photographs.
There’s a scene towards the end of the movie where a topless girl is getting a haircut. That’s from one of his photos.
You collect photography. Whose work do you like?
Lee Freelander, Tina Barney, Bill Owens, who took photos of surburbia that I looked at a lot before making The Virgin Suicides.
I have a Helmut Newton that’s one of my prized possessions, a Juergen Teller photograph of Kurt Cobain that I love.
I always loved photography. And I wanted to take photos, but I wasn’t very good at it. But doing it for a bit taught me a lot about how to make films.
On women in film
You were the first American woman ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar. Why are there still so few women in the director’s chair?
People often ask me about that, and I don’t feel I have any more insight than anyone else! There’s so many more than when I started, so that’s encouraging.
Maybe it’s because it’s such an all-encompassing job, and if you have a family, it’s harder to do. But then there are female surgeons, so I’m not sure. And there’s plenty of women working in the film business.
You grew up surrounded by men. Did that help?
My cousins were all boys, and they would all come stay with us. That’s why I like being on the film sets, with all the camera guys, it’s kind of familiar!
It was fun being the only girl. The idea of sisters is really mysterious to me – it’s some kind of complicated relationship that I don’t know about. I always ask my friends with sisters about it.
So having daughters now – it’s fun. I hope they’re close!
Obviously, people ask you a lot about your dad. But your mum Eleanor is an artist, and her published diaries are brilliant. How much did she influence your work?
My mom was a big influence. I think the way that I’m an observer comes from her. She finds humour and interest in details, and she’s not one for being the centre of attention. She likes to be quiet and on the side.
She’s not showbusiness at all, and she always looked at it from a distance, as an observer. And she’s great at noticing strange little details.
I don’t yell on the set. My dad is so loud, people ask how come I’m not. But it’s bse I got my demeanour from my mom. More quiet and petite!
On money
The budget for Somewhere was around $7m. I wanted to make it for as little as possible. I had a really small crew. Because we were shooting in the hotel, we had to keep everything small, and I like working that way. It felt like a student film or something.
Was that a relief after Marie Antoinette‘s bigger budget?
Yes, that was a bit of an undertaking! It was fun, but after that I wanted to do something really minimal. And I was trying to make the budget as small as possible so that I can work creatively. Because otherwise, you have to listen to the money people.
On children and creativity
Has being a mum changed your relationship with the work?
Yes, definitely. I was thinking about becoming a parent when I was writing this script, and I wanted to put that into the story because it was something that was playing on my mind.
I probably did a smaller-scale movie because of that, too. This was a six-week shoot, where Marie Antoinette took months. But with a two-year-old, there was no way I could manage that.
And I can’t stay up all night writing any more. I have to be more organised, or it just takes longer to write in all the chaos.
We were on a trip, with all the kids running around and I was just writing in the middle of it. I once had this idea that I needed to be in a quiet room to write, but I’ve learned to do it.
And I want to take more time between projects, now.
On being a fashion icon
Were you always interested in style?
As a teenager, I was into The Face and Paris Vogue. Where we were in California, I was really removed from all that, and these magazines just connected me to somewhere else. And my parents knew someone at Chanel, so I did a summer internship there, when I was 15.
It was interesting, an adventure! I was excited and curious.
It was fun to see it start with the sketches and then turn into a whole collection. Just watching something being made, starting from scratch. I was getting coffee and bringing samples up to the atelier, where you’d see the seamstresses and the women doing embroidery. I loved it.
You had your own clothing label, Milk Fed, for a while.
I haven’t done it for years. When I started doing films, it was too much. But it was fun to have a business. I guess that comes from my dad.
People probably don’t see it, but I’m a hard worker. I didn’t have things handed to me. My dad was definitely very strict about work. There was a really strong work ethic in our family.
I wish I could just lounge around sometimes – I feel guilty if I’m not working. But when I’m with the kids, I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.
This interview originally appeared in the Telegraph magazine. You can read that version here.
Marla Bishop
I love this.
Sofia sounds so cool.
Thanks for sharing this Sheryll